EM-PO-W-ER Tunisia

The transformation partnership project EM-PO-W-ER Tunisia (EMerging POllutants in Water and WastewatER in Tunisia) intends to initiate a dialogue at scientific, educational, socio-cultural, and political levels on probably the most emerging topic in the Middle East “Water and its Scarcity”. Water is essential for the development of the area in terms of food production, health, and prosperity, thereby supporting the transformation process and political stability through meeting the demands of the people.

In the course of this project, which started in March 2012, a professional and intercultural dialogue between Tunisian and German scientists, students, and stakeholders will be initiated that helps find solutions not only in terms of technical measures, but also for common intercultural understanding and trust.

The Project EM-PO-W-ER Tunisia aims at building a network between universities, research centers, stakeholders, and policy makers to monitor the current situation of wastewater reuse in Tunisia and other Arab Countries with an emphasis on emerging pollutants in reclaimed wastewater and irrigated agricultural environments (water bodies, soil and groundwater) and thereby building capacity of students and researchers.

Also the links to Euro-Mediterranean Countries will be enhanced through the German partner. This aims to develop a greater R&D follow up project for the entire Mediterranean Sea Region thereby linking South and North.

The project is jointly conducted through the Technical University of Braunschweig, Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry, Braunschweig, Germany, the University of Carthage, the National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water, and Forestry (INRGREF), both Tunis, Tunisia, and the University of Sousse, Higher Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Chatt-Meriem ISA CM, Sousse, Tunisia, and is funded for 2012 – 2013 through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD – Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst).

Objectives:

• Stock taking of the current situation of emerging pollutants in water resources,
• Identifying the gap in environmental knowledge and developing suitable solutions,
• Further education and training courses for analytical and laboratory skills,
• Setting up a database for dealing with emerging pollutants in water for irrigation,
• Dissemination of the results through workshops and stakeholder conferences.